Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Fáilte go dtí an coiste. Welcome to the committee. Some ground has been covered by my colleagues. I thank the Financial Services Union representatives for appearing before the committee. I wish to put on record again my appreciation and that of my party for the work the union does in the financial sector. It is an example of the benefits that come with greater trade union density and collective bargaining. It is a good example of how that could bring other benefits to our economy.

We are in the middle of a major shift in banking in the State. One of my colleagues suggested they were the first to call for a banking forum to be established. In fairness, it was the Financial Services Union that called for it first. We supported that call at an early point and then other parties did so. It is a pity we do not have the structure that is desired but the engagement in Tullamore was quite interesting.

Some 1 million customers will be transferred to receiving institutions. Some of them may not be banks but post offices and credit unions. Since people may be watching, it is important for this committee to state there are also opportunities for people to open accounts in post offices and credit unions.

We have seen the Central Bank report about telephone delays. I have been on the end of a call waiting for over an hour with AIB, missing loads of calls to me in that time and it is getting worse. I can understand if anger is being vented on the staff even though it is no fault of theirs but they are on the receiving end. In my case I never got through because I gave up after an hour. We put it to the banks' representatives last week and they said that was old that it is all sorted. They told us it was taking about 45 seconds and the outlier might be four minutes. From the experiences of the Financial Services Union, is that an accurate reflection of waiting times with call centres today?